As Sligo arrive, Tipperary football manager insists 'we need to win a game'

Following the disappointment of the abandonment of their game against Wexford just minutes before throw-in on Sunday last, Tipperary must now quickly re-focus for a five-game feast of football over consecutive weekends to complete their Division 4 National Football League programme by Saturday, March 26 (at home to London in Thurles).
No doubt the call by referee John Hickey at Chadwicks Wexford Park was the only decision at that moment in time, but many would still argue that the decision should have been made earlier in the day, such were the conditions and the forecast. Either way we all move on to Thurles on Saturday night next and the visit of Sligo to FBD Semple Stadium.
Little has changed for either Tipp or Sligo since last week, with the Sligo/Cavan game also falling foul of the very inclement weather. For Tipp this remains a must-win game, having failed to put up a victory in their opening two encounters. Against Sligo it will be a mighty challenge, the Connacht side with two wins under their belts already, winning in Wexford and hammering Carlow by 18 points in Markievicz Park. The visitors will know that a win here could be the game to get them that promotion ticket back to Division 3.
Speaking in Wexford after last Sunday’s game was scratched, there was a sense of renewed hope from Tipperary manager David Power, seeing a small ray of hope perhaps breaking through on a gloomy, grey day in the not-so-sunny south east.
He was disappointed that the weather had put paid to the opportunity of putting out his strongest team of the year so far.
He said: “I’m disappointed because I think we were in a better place going into this. So Sligo now next Saturday evening in Thurles and that’s all we can focus on. I was hoping our game here would go ahead and we could have got a result here today. You would have been ahead of Sligo and they wouldn’t have had a match in two weeks. Now we are back down here again” (the weekend after next), he added.

There was a sense in his few brief words on Sunday that the mood is more positive in the Tipperary camp than it was in the immediate aftermath of the Leitrim game.

“We played Longford in a challenge since (Leitrim) and a lot of lads did very well. We are trying to give lads a chance. We are going through a transitional period so we are going with lads that were showing form, the likes of Jack Kennedy back which was great. Another week for him makes it even better. To be honest it looked today like the strongest team we’ve had this year so it’s a pity it didn’t go ahead,” added the Tipp boss.
Since the Leitrim setback there was obviously a clear-the-air conclave between players and management and David Power seemed pleased with the outcome of it.
“To be fair to all of us there wasn’t a blame game. We had a very good chat, very honest. There were things the players and management weren’t doing. Confidence is an issue. We need to win a game and we won’t hide that. We’ll just have to wait until next Saturday. We have the likes of Jack Kennedy back so that’s a good thing. Hopefully we can get a good performance next weekend,” he said.
The side selected for Wexford on Sunday last contained a massive nine changes from the previous game, even with Jimmy Feehan parachuted in to start when Jack Harney fell sick for Sunday. Michael O’Reilly, Jack Harney, Jack Kennedy and Mark Russell were due to get their first action of the campaign, while Teddy Doyle and Paudie Feehan were starting for the first time.
With two difficult away games to come after the Sligo game, back down in Wexford and up in Cavan, Tipp simply must win on Saturday. But there’ll be nothing simple about it, though.